Peter O’Neill says, “We are getting ever-closer to our first Forrester Forum for B2B marketing professionals. It is great to see so many of you registered for the event, and I look forward to seeing you in Miami. While Forrester does have another Forum for marketers, which is held in New York each spring and in which we cover some B2B topics, Miami is the one where we focus only on your needs. Why? Because B2B marketing is different! Of course, as the research director for the role that meets your needs, I get asked that question a lot — both within Forrester and by clients (especially... [...]

Renee Yeager says, “We all have that friend who was wild in their younger days. The one who would show up to the party, do some crazy things, then disappear without a trace — and without the memory of the craziness they had wrought. Amazingly, that friend grew up, matured, started realizing their potential and understanding their purpose. They’re still fun, but in a more attractive way, and suddenly they’re more popular than ever. That friend, of course, is Snapchat. In successful marketing, story is king. And Snapchat is great at telling stories quickly to an engaged audience.... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “When writing about customer experience we’re often guilty of neglecting B2B companies, believing that it is mainly a focus for large consumer brands. However we recently sat down with John Watton, EMEA Marketing Director at Adobe, who explained that CX is just as important for B2B marketers. You can watch what John said in the videos below, as well as read a summary of his points. Conversation with customers John states that content marketing is the key to a good customer experience, regardless of sector or industry. By content, he means creating a conversation... [...]

Sujan Patel says, “The latest Content Marketing Trends report from the Content Marketing Institute stated that 88 percent of B2B organizations are using content marketing, yet only 30 percent of them think it’s effective. Some marketers believe that producing content for B2B industries is difficult and that B2C marketing is easy. I don’t agree. They’re just different. And yet, they share one key similarity: regardless of what you’re marketing or who you’re marketing it to, you’re always marketing to a person. All you need to do is find a way to reach that person. Here are... [...]

Steven Casey says, “Today’s business marketers and their prospects are engaged in a frustrating content “dating” game. To get the content they want – and avoid the inevitable follow-up sales call or nurturing emails – more and more buyers are populating your gating forms with false, incomplete, or non-business information. They get the whitepaper, but all you get is another useless “lead.” To assess the current state of content gating and uncover innovative solutions to this problem, we reviewed 35 B2B websites and interviewed 15 B2B marketing practitioners across four industries,... [...]

Lena Brooks says, “In 2016, video is an important part of the content marketing mix, and it’s here to stay. Video has an uncanny ability to quickly warm up potential customers and connect them to you and your product. YouTube, the largest repository of videos, offers you the opportunity to create a dedicated audience of subscribers; and as the second largest search engine after Google, it’s not to be ignored. All that sounds very tempting, but if you don’t have video experience, it can also be very intimidating. When Magoosh, the company I work for, started making branded... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “What is the return on investment for B2B companies when they spend on Google AdWords search advertising? To find out, Bizible examined 1H16 data from 120 B2B companies in six industries. The researchers obtained a wide range of information from each firm, including monthly lead count, lead count attributable to AdWords, revenue, marketing spend, AdWord spend, and projected future revenue. The share of leads brought in by AdWords and the ultimate impact on revenue varies significantly from industry to industry, the analysis found. For the marketing agencies examined, AdWords... [...]

Samantha Anderson says, “B2B inbound marketing can be incredibly effective in regards to your specific marketing goals, whether it’s to generate new leads, improve your sales, build brand authority, build brand trust or simply increase brand exposure. However, what some businesses don’t understand is that B2B inbound marketing is a long-term strategy, not a short-term one. Inbound marketing consists of numerous strategies. If one element happens to result in instant results; for example, a video that goes viral and receives thousands of shares, it’s generally an anomaly. Trying... [...]

Aaron Agius says, “While LinkedIn is traditionally used as a networking platform for professionals and job-seekers, it also offers plenty of opportunities to market and grow your business. By the first quarter of 2016, the B2B social platform boasted more than 430 million users. When you add LinkedIn to your marketing strategy, you can build targeted connections, generate higher-quality leads, reinforce relationships with prospects, and greatly improve your brand visibility. Here’s how marketing with LinkedIn can help you grow: 1. Grow Your Presence With Targeted Content Unlike other social... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “The 50 fastest-growing B2B companies are investing in blogs, downloadable content, and live chat, according to a recent report from Drift and Mattermark. The report was based on data from the Mattermark platform, which analyzes more than 1.5 million companies to identify the fastest-growing firms based on indicators such as employee count and funding. The researchers manually examined the sales and digital marketing tactics of the top 50 companies to identify best-practices. The top three fastest-growing B2B companies are Upwork, WeWork, and Slack, the analysis found. Below,... [...]